This October marked the 26th anniversary of the rebirth of the Normal Theater as a town-run venue for classic, independent and foreign films. Yet the distinctive Art Moderne-designed movie house goes back much further — all the way to 1937 and the Great Depression.
And though the restored theater is now a cherished uptown Normal icon and one of the more photographed buildings in all the Twin Cities, during its commercial years it suffered its share of tough times and indignities common to downtown theaters across the nation.
The Normal Theater (or “Theatre”— for much of its history the two were used interchangeably) was built by Sylvan and Ruth Kupfer, who owned the 209 North St. lot where the movie house went up. Sylvan, a graduate of Illinois Wesleyan University back when it had a law school, was a local attorney and later real estate broker.